Furman University is among 27 academic institutions that will receive funding from PepsiCo Recycling for campus sustainability efforts.<\/p>\n
Now in its third year, PepsiCo\u2019s Zero Impact Fund (ZIF) allows representatives of eligible colleges or universities to submit proposals to create or strengthen green initiatives on campus. A panel of judges then votes on the most impactful projects, with winners receiving up to $10,000 toward making those ideas a reality.<\/p>\n
Furman\u2019s proposal, which addresses food waste and food insecurity, was recognized as one of the most unique projects among the winning group this year.<\/p>\n
Furman\u2019s project will assess the extent of food insecurity across campus among students and staff; look to limit over-ordering and over-production of food for catered events; develop and pilot a text notification system to redistribute excess food from catered events, particularly to those who are food insecure; expand and enhance a food recovery system for remaining foods from catered events to be distributed to a food pantry; and calls for composting any remaining food waste at Furman\u2019s organic farm.<\/p>\n
Wes Dripps, executive director of Furman\u2019s David E. Shi Center for Sustainability, commented on the collaborative project between the Shi Center for Sustainability, Bon App\u00e9tit Management Company, The Furman Farm, and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. \u201cFood waste and food insecurity \u2013 two issues that appear to be at odds with each other \u2013 are growing problems on college campuses. National studies estimate that 22 million pounds of food are wasted each year on U.S. college campuses, yet 20 percent of students at four-year institutions report low food security. This project will take a comprehensive systems approach to addressing both of these issues at Furman,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt PepsiCo, we believe that building a circular economy is the key to a sustainable future,\u201d said Tom Mooradian, manager of environmental sustainability. \u201cThis year\u2019s winning projects are largely focused on implementing circular economies on a small scale within college communities, demonstrating their impact in a highly tangible way. Projects of this scale within closed campus environments can create precedent and then build toward a model for implementation in wider society.\u201d<\/p>\n
PepsiCo Recycling aims to help colleges and universities pursue projects that will have long-term impacts on their communities, with the ultimate goal of closing the loop between environmental sustainability and economic stability.<\/p>\n
Learn more about PepsiCo Recycling<\/a>. For more information about Furman\u2019s project, contact Wes Dripps at Furman\u2019s David E. Shi Center for Sustainability at 864-294-3392, and weston.dripps@furman.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Furman University is among 27 academic institutions that will receive funding from PepsiCo Recycling for campus sustainability efforts. Now in its third year, PepsiCo\u2019s Zero Impact Fund (ZIF) allows representatives […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":257,"featured_media":8173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,18,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-centers-and-institutes","category-shi-institute-for-sustainable-communities","category-top-four-news-4th-story"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/257"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}